Their Finest

During the savage 1940 London Blitz, advertising copywriter Catrin Cole (Gemma Arterton) is recruited by the British Ministry of Information to work with the film division to bring “a woman's touch” that will bolster morale. Britain wants the United States to enter the war and is relying on cinematic propaganda to convince recalcitrant Yanks. Since Catrin's husband Ellis (Jack Huston) is a frustrated painter, her paycheck comes in handy, even though she's told “Of course, we can't pay you as much as the chaps.” Partnered with Tom Buckley (Sam Claflin), Catrin pitches a purportedly true story about patriotic twin sisters, Rose and Lily Starling (Lily and Francesca Knight), who took their father's boat and crossed the Channel to help evacuate wounded soldiers at Dunkirk. Problem is: her embellished story doesn't jibe with what really happened. As to when there's a difference between truth and facts, the filmmakers are given a mandate: “authenticity informed by optimism.” With the help of an aging thespian (Bill Nighy), the movie-within-the-movie turns out to be great fun, involving Jeremy Irons in a self-satirizing cameo, along with Richard E. Grant, Eddie Marsan, Helen McCrory, and Rachael Stirling. Adapted from Lissa Evans's 2009 novel, filmmaker Lone Scherfig's Their Finest is a bit slow-paced, but it's also a sly, bittersweet tale with a tasteful feminist twist. Recommended. (S. Granger)